Robert Schaible, Long-Time Suppoter of Palestinians, Holds a Sign at an Ongoing rally in Monument Square, Portand, Today:  “Israel Not Hamas Blocks Peace.”

Representatives Chellie PIngree (D-ME) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) reintroduced the PRIME Act, a bipartisan legislation to make it easier for small farms and ranches to serve consumers.  The PRIME Act, HR 4700, would give individual states freedom to permit intrastate distribution of custom-slaughtered meat such as beef, pork, or lamb to consumers, restaurants, hotels, boarding houses and grocery stores it was announced today in a press release from Rep. Pingree’s office.

“Consumers at the grocery store increasingly want quality, locally-grown food, but existing regulations and supply chain vulnerabiities don’t make it easy for them to access.  In rural states like Maine, farmers often have to drive hundreds of miles just to  get their livestock processed.  We can and must do more to bolster our local food systems,” said Pingree, a longtime farmer and member of the House Agirculture Committee.  “The PRIME Act is a commonsense, bipartisan solution that strengthens infrastruacture for local meat processing, supports family farms and gives consumers easier access to locally raised food — along with greater transparency about where that food comes from.”

“Consumers want to know where their food comes from, what it contains and how it i’s processed.  Yet federal inspection requirements make it difficult to purchase food from trusted, local farmers,” said Rep. Massie.  “It is time to open our markets to give producers the freedom to succeed and consumers the freedom to choose.”

“Does the name Rep  Massie sound familiar to you?  If you are following the latest Trump scandal it will.  Rep. Massie is a cosponsor of a bill that would require the Justice Department to release the Epstein files.  He is hopeful the measure will come up for a vote when the House returns in September.  It won’t happen until then because Speaker Mike Johnson dismissed the House early in order to prevent a House vote on the release of the Epstein release,” said this blogger.

Massie raises cattle on his off-the-grid farm in northeast Kentucky.  PIngree raises grass-fed beef and chickens on her island farm in North Haven, Maine.